Within the last decade, computerized gaming, computer graphics and electronic networking have revolutionized remote networked game play. The Internet, cellular communications networks, and wireless communications networks such as WI-FI have opened exciting new possibilities for networked multiplayer gaming. If one desires the competitiveness of a multiplayer game and it isn't practical or possible to invite friends over, it's now possible to connect to a network and use the network to carry game play signaling between different gaming or other appliances. A child can now operate a handheld gaming platform at a kitchen table or in a fast food restaurant and interact wirelessly in real time with another player across town, across the country or on the other side of the globe. One can play against friends, neighbors, acquaintances or people one hasn't yet met.
Technology may sometimes have unintended consequences. Widely available digital networked communications and easy-to-use interfaces provide enhanced connectivity and accessibility, but also create risks inherent in any anonymous or pseudo-anonymous mode of communications. As much as we sometimes might not like to think about it, we share the world with charlatans, criminals and predators who may wish us and our children harm. For their own self-interests, such miscreants can take advantage of the anonymity of computer networks to learn information that can compromise our security and privacy. It is not always possible to ascertain with any certainty the true identity of people communicating over a computer network, but predators can often glean information through computer text and/or voice chat, blogs and other networked message exchanges that they can then use to invade our privacy and our lives.
Email communications over a computer network is similar in many ways to conventional mail delivered to your home mailbox. You can simply throw away or delete email messages that you consider to be “junk mail.” Real time instant messaging and chat, on the other hand, can be more aggressive and more difficult to ignore. Upon entering and participating in an Internet or other network “chat room,” one does not really know who the people in the chat room really are. An adult may be able to successfully masquerade as a child for a variety of purposes—some of them nefarious. For these and other reasons, most parents are not comfortable having their children chat with people their children do not already know.
Many online games allow players to chat with other players within or outside of a game environment. A common feature that many of these games share is that an updated list is kept by a server of all players on the network at a given time. This allows players to search for opponents or allies for an upcoming game. However, browsing through lists of online participants can be tedious. A game may have thousands of players logged on at a given time. Players may have to spend a good deal of time searching the list for a proper competitor or a friend met in a previous match. In the past, lists have been provided with sorting functions, such as alphabetical sorting, to facilitate opponent and friend searching. Additionally, some online environments have allowed players to bookmark “buddies” (online friends) in a manner similar to “Instant Messaging” offered by America Online and others.
Unfortunately, due to the exploitation of the Internet by unsavory characters, it may not be safe for a child to select and maintain an online relationship with a “buddy” he or she does not know. Previous buddy lists generally do not include any way of weeding out “dangerous” acquaintances from “safe” ones. Parents may be reluctant to allow children to play in such online environments.
Needs exist for a safe method of providing an online buddy or similar list or roster that does not potentially expose children to undesirably intrusive contacts. Additionally, needs exist for methods of preventing unapproved player tracking. Such methods should not interfere overmuch with the general purpose and function of the buddy list, which is to allow players to easily meet with, communicate with, and play with selected friends and rivals online.
To help ensure privacy, Nintendo recommends that a player should never give out personal information such as last name, phone number, birth date, age, email address or home address when communicating with others. For example, Nintendo provides a Wi-Fi Connection ID for use with its Nintendo DS portable video game system. A player's Wi-Fi Connection ID is tied to a Friend Roster and is stored on the player's Nintendo DS system. Nintendo recommends players should be sure to properly safeguard their Nintendo DS system and to delete user information from the Nintendo “WFC” set up, if the player will no longer be using the system or game, to prevent a subsequent user from having access to the Friend Roster. Nintendo also warns players about receiving messages from, or communicating with strangers; recommends having an adult assist children with system setup and instruct them not to use personal information for their nickname and personal message; asks parents to be sure children know how to identify when someone has entered a chat room; and has parents instruct their children not to use the chat feature if the parents are not comfortable with such use. While these precautions are helpful and useful, further improvements are possible and desirable.
The technology herein provides methods for “buddy list” implementation that keep all desired aspects of a buddy list intact while securely protecting the user from online miscreants and invasion of privacy and security.
Using an exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, once you're connected to the network it's time to hop into a game. You control who you play with. You can connect with friends you know or find new opponents online. You can exchange unique Friend Keys with the people you know so you can play and chat with each other when you're both online. When a friend is not online, or when you feel like taking on a new challenger, a matchmaking server can find opponents for you. No personal information is transmitted, so you can have fun competing securely and anonymously. In certain games, you can also get connected by being “auto-matched.” Auto-match goes out and randomly sets a game player up with any other game player who is online and looking to play. This broadens the number of opponents who you can be matched against to thousands of other players around the world. The way Auto-match is set up and used may be different for each game. For example, in some games, a player can choose whether he or she wishes to play only against players on their Friends Roster, players within the same geographical region, or players anywhere in the world. Not all games need to contain a chat feature. For those that do, “open” chat is generally allowed between friends who have exchanged Friend Codes. “Open” chat may also be possible if two players who have not exchanged Friend Codes interact with a game hosted by another player with whom they have both exchanged Friend Codes. “Closed” chat can be provided as an operational mode in which a player can select from a set of “canned” phrases to send to an opponent but which restricts content (e.g., so that the player may not type whatever he or she wants).
One exemplary illustrative technique provides two different classes of “remembered” online game players: “Friends” and “Rivals.” “Friends” are game players that are known personally and with whom chatting is permissible. “Rivals” may be game players who are not known personally but whom one has played against in the past in an online gaming scenario. Game software may allow chatting or other direct communication with “Friends” but not with “Rivals.” Rivals may be tracked to a limited degree so that for example it is possible to play against the Rival when he or she is online. Rivals may for example be players who you wish to track or keep track of, but in a manner that is safe for both you and the “rival.” The exemplary illustrative non-limiting technology herein allows the game player to “bookmark” or otherwise keep track of Rivals (i.e., strangers that you have played with in the past). When a player goes online again, he or she can see whether his or her Rivals are online and invite them to play another game. Inviting Rivals to play may be selectable, so an online player can invite Friends, Rivals or both to play.
In other exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations, it may be possible to send certain predefined or “canned” messages to Rivals while prohibiting “free chat” reserved for Friends. Such exemplary illustrative non-limiting arrangements might, for example, allow a player to send an invitation message to a Rival asking the Rival whether he or she wishes to join a game, but limit the ability of the player to send any other information (e.g., personal information that might reveal his or her identity) for safety reasons. Rivals may or may not have other qualifications as well (e.g., similar rankings or standings). In accordance with additional exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations of the technology herein, a “lobby” system allows a game player to see who (i.e., which Friends and which Rivals) is online before starting a game. The player can then start a game in the hope that a Friend or Rival will join or the player may be able to invite the Friend or Rival to join the game. Such tracking techniques can operate, if desired, in conjunction with a website or other auxiliary presentation technique to allow players to find, track, and determine the online/offline state of “Friends” and “Rivals.” Different colored displays or other presentation technique can be used to indicate status.
Game players who do not wish to be tracked may, in exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations herein, deactivate tracking so that it is not possible for others to determine their online/offline state. Different classes or categories of players may be provided with access to voice chat, text chat capabilities, or neither. For example, voice chat and text chat may be limited only to Friends and not extended to Rivals in one exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation of the technology herein.
In one exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, if you have a Friend set up on your list, you can use the voice-over IP chat online, or you can chat with them using the messenger program. There is also a way to keep track of Rivals too, but still keep everyone safe online. After you play someone, you can decide to add them to your Rivals list. If they agree, you will become Rivals. Then you can follow that person's statistics and you can try to connect with them again later. If you activate your Rival Radar and pass by someone else who has it on, you'll download their Hunter's License and they'll become your Rival.
According to other aspects of exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations, players may be added as a Friend to a buddy list only when the player has met face-to-face with another player and exchanged a buddy card. A buddy card is a virtual “card” representing the relevant attributes of the player, and may contain any information that the game developer desires. Players who are not face-to-face may exchange cards through use of user passwords or other protections based on for example mutual agreement.
According to further aspects of exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations, users may add rivals, who are different from buddies, to a list of rivals. This list can be part of the buddy list or it can be a separate list entirely. In some exemplary illustrative implementations, a player may only be added to a rival list after giving permission to be added.
Further exemplary illustrative non-limiting features and advantages of an exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation include:
Buddy List:
                “Buddy List” allows users to keep track of their “Buddies” (people they know) indicating if they are online or not and even chat with them.        “Buddy List” also allow these online “Buddies” to join each other's games in order to play against each other.        “Buddy List” consists of a collected database of “Gamer's Cards” in which players exchange during LAN (face to face) Multiplayer games.        Because players exchanged these “Gamer's Card” from playing someone else face to face (and assuming they know them), these “Gamer's Card” fall under a player's “Buddy List”, allowing them to find and play with them online, and even allow them to CHAT with each other.        There are other possible ways to exchange “Gamer's Cards” with real friends (people you know) in which doesn't involve face to face interaction. It is possible to set up an online portal ID key/password exchange in which players need to enter a certain code at the same time in order for the game to find each other and exchange “Gamer's Card”Rival List:        “Rival List” will allow users to keep track of “rivals”, players they have played against online. These online “rivals” are (most likely) total strangers to the player.        “Rival List” is made of up of “Gamer's Cards” that were exchanged after a Wi-Fi Connect online match with online players. Also, these exchange of “Gamer's Card” must be confirmed by both players.        Because of online safety concerns, a player's “Rival List” only allows them to “track” their “Rivals” (see if they are online or not) and invite them to a game. Players will not be able to chat with their “Rivals” and certain information on their “Gamer's Card” may also be limited/hidden from their “Rivals”. Only “Buddies” can see all information on your “Gamer's Card”Bookmarking Rivals:        After completing a Wi-Fi Connect online match with random (strangers) players, a list of all current players' standing and stats of the previous game can be shown. Here, any player can go down the list and “check off” or “bookmark” any of the other players as a “Rival” in order to keep track of them later.        This “bookmarking” is done without any confirmation or knowledge of the other player.        Once a “Rival” has been “bookmarked”, a player can keep track of that player and use the options of the game to always show up in games against the “Rival.”        In some implementations, the player can also request a “Rival” to become a “Buddy”.Gamers Card or Buddy Card        Every player will have a CARD that you can exchange with other players. Each CARD will have certain information about that player.        Exchanging GAMERS CARD will also put each player on each others BUDDY/RIVAL LIST for easier locating when online.        A player is either a BUDDY or a RIVAL based on how they exchanged their GAMERS CARD.        A player becomes a RIVAL after playing them ONLINE and then agreeing to exchange a GAMERS CARD.        A player becomes a BUDDY when players exchange GAMERS CARD in REAL LIFE by just playing a LAN game with them.        Players can be BUDDY thru the Internet using the ADD BUDDY function below.Gamers Card        May contain the following information:                    NAME            RANKING (this can be updated every time that person goes online)            FAVORITE CHARACTER USED (this can be updated every time that person goes online)            LOCATION (if desired)            WINS/LOSES/KILLS (this can be updated every time that player goes online)            OtherBuddy Card                        To be on each other's BUDDY LIST, EACH PLAYER must have EACH OTHER'S BUDDY CARD.        To exchange a BUDDY CARD, players can exchange in REAL LIFE by just playing a LAN game with them (or wireless LAN trade).        Players can also exchange BUDDY CARDS thru the Internet using the ADD BUDDY function.        